We’ve been waiting for Xiaomi’s smartwatches to make it out of China, and the Mi Watch and Mi Watch Lite are now available in more countries.
The company has launched its Mi Watch and Mi Watch Lite in the UK – and they are both now officially available across Europe.
It’s been slow progress. We’ve been tracking the launch of a Mi Watch for years. The first Mi Watch launched in China in 2019, although it was a completely different device to either of these. The Mi Watch Lite got a quiet global release in October 2020, but now Xiaomi is targeting specific territories for the first time.
However, the US is not (officially) getting either of these, likely a result of the on-going trade issues with China. US buyers will see these devices on Amazon and resellers in due course, but beware that global versions may require workarounds due to lack of official support.
Mi Watch seriously impresses
Th Xiaomi Mi Watch uses a round 1.39” always-on AMOLED display, with a 326 ppi and 454×454 resolution, will stand up against any premium smartwatch, and it also features a choice of over 100 watch faces. It comes in black, navy blue and beige.
From our week of wearing and working out with the Mi Watch, we can safely say it’s an impressive package.
There’s a gamut of 117 workout profiles to tag your efforts with from running to boxing and kayaking.
It’s also out to get the likes of the Huawei Watch GT range, with stress levels, blood oxygen spot checks, heart rate and even overall body energy tracking.
It offers a quite outrageous 16 days battery life, and GPS tracking in excess of 50 hours. The GPs also uses GLONASS, Galileo and BDS, for extra accuracy and faster lock-ons. Impressive stuff.
The price tag of £119, and between €119 and €149 across Europe, puts it right up against the Huawei Watch GT2e and the Amazfit GTS 2e – both of which have received reviews here at Wareable.
This looks to bring an extra dose of value to the party, which is exactly what we hoped Xiaomi would inject into the budget smartwatch race.
Mi Watch Lite
The Mi Watch Lite was actually globally announced last year, and has been slowly rolling out around the globe via resellers. It’s a budget offering with a small, square case that packs in a 1.4 inch touch display with three colour options.
It comes with 11 sports modes, built in GPS and 50m water resistance. And it uses that water resistance to good effect with swim stroke recognition in the pool and in open water too.
It boasts nine days of battery life, and packs in an SpO2 sensor too.
So that leaves us with pricing, which has been the biggest mystery of this slow motion roll out.
The Mi Watch Lite, which has been creeping out, as an official price of £59.99/€69.99. It’s available on Amazon US for $95, however there has been region and pairing issues reported by buyers.
How we test
James is the co-founder of Wareable, and he has been a technology journalist for 15 years.
He started his career at Future Publishing, James became the features editor of T3 Magazine and T3.com and was a regular contributor to TechRadar – before leaving Future Publishing to found Wareable in 2014.
James has been at the helm of Wareable since 2014 and has become one of the leading experts in wearable technologies globally. He has reviewed, tested, and covered pretty much every wearable on the market, and is passionate about the evolving industry, and wearables helping people achieve healthier and happier lives.